Bill Clinton's post-presidential journey: a story told in convention speeches

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — In Bill Clinton's prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1988, the young governor of Arkansas bored delegates so thoroughly that they cheered when he said, “in closing...” Many years later, as a former president whose legacy had made a comeback, Clinton aided Barack Obama's reelection with a 2012 convention address that earned him a nickname as the “secretary of explaining stuff.”

The 78-year-old Clinton, a veteran of convention speeches over the past four decades, knows as well as anyone the difference between a good and a disastrous performance. What's less certain as he prepares to deliver his 12th convention speech Wednesday is the impact he'll have on a party trying to prevent Donald Trump from returning to the White House.

Clinton's political journey, from Little Rock to the White House and later to elder statesman status, can be traced in part through his evolving role at the Democratic National Convention — for better or worse. Credited with reviving Democrats’ fortunes when he was elected in 1992 and as the last president to leave office with a budget surplus, Clinton remains a rock star for many Democrats. But for others, his legacy has been complicated, both by evolving views about his centrist brand of politics and about the scandal involving sex and power that nearly ended his presidency.

This time around, as Democrats look to end Trump's political career, allies and experts regard Clinton as a valuable messenger for Vice President Kamala Harris on the economy, with a recent AP-NORC poll showing that Americans are somewhat more likely to trust Trump than the Democratic Party's nominee on economic issues.

“Nobody has the ability to encapsulate very complex issues on the economy and explain it in ordinary terms — he’s the best at that — on why it matters to you and everybody,” said Terry McAuliffe, former Virginia governor and longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

But the former president's influence may be waning, especially as he addresses a party that has moved to the left of his centrist politics on issues like crime and trade.

Though he spoke at the 1980 and 1984 conventions, Clinton made his first national splash when he formally nominated then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis at the 1988 convention. It didn't go well.

What was supposed to be a 15-minute speech went twice as long, with delegates losing interest.

“It was thirty-two minutes of total disaster,” he later wrote in his 2004 autobiography, “My Life.”

Clinton rebounded with a self-deprecating appearance on Johnny Carson's late night show, where the host welcomed him by placing an hourglass on the desk. Clinton ended his appearance by playing saxophone with the show's band.

“He quickly redeemed himself,” said Skip Rutherford, a longtime friend and former head of Clinton's presidential foundation.

That set the stage for Clinton's next two convention speeches, first as the party's nominee in 1992 where he proclaimed he still believed “in a place called Hope.” And in 1996, seeking reelection, he vowed to build “a bridge to the 21st century.”

“He walks on the stage being the most experienced convention speaker there,” Rutherford said. “But I still bet he talks about the future.”

But Clinton's stature as ex-president has evolved over the years, buffeted both by politics and the evolution of his legacy.

Part of that reflects how the #MeToo movement revived talk over Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, a young White House intern, which led to his impeachment by the House. Lewinsky in 2018 said although it wasn’t sexual assault, the relationship constituted a ” gross abuse of power.”

In 2000, as Clinton came to the end of his second term as president, he ceded the spotlight to his vice president, Al Gore, who looked to distance himself from the scandal and Clinton’s impeachment. Gore highlighted his own marriage with a long on-stage kiss with Tipper Gore, emphasizing the contrast between the two men. (The Gores split up a decade later.)

Gore lost the presidency to George W. Bush in a race so close it was ultimately settled by the Supreme Court. The historically narrow margin has fueled debate ever since about whether Clinton’s role in the campaign should have been handled differently.

Clinton’s convention role was complicated again eight years later, after Hillary Clinton lost a bitter primary fight to Obama. He spoke at the 2008 convention in Denver, but Obama had little interest in dwelling on the ex-president’s legacy, and Clinton’s speech was the undercard on the same night Joe Biden delivered his speech as the party’s vice-presidential nominee.

Clinton's most memorable speech since then came in 2012, when he delivered a point-by-point takedown of Republicans' economic plans. The speech earned him the “secretary of explaining stuff” moniker from Obama. He also delivered a heartfelt speech on behalf of his wife at the 2016 convention during her presidential bid.

Clinton's presidential library remains a popular tourist draw in Little Rock nearly 20 years since it opened, and his foundation last year announced plans to expand it to include Hillary’s personal archives. He also plans to release another memoir after the election.

But Clinton's star power may be dimmer when compared with Obama. About 6 in 10 Democrats see Obama as the best recent president, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center poll that asked U.S. adults which president has done the best job over the past 40 years. About 2 in 10 Democrats selected Clinton.

That comes as the party has moved away from the center-left politics embraced for most of his presidency by Clinton, who won over moderates with policies like his welfare overhaul and North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump and others have argued sent thousands of jobs overseas.

“I would say he’s a diminished figure, there’s no doubt about that, in the Democratic Party,” said Nelson Lichtenstein, a historian of the Clinton administration at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Clinton also could be outshined by his wife, who remains popular in the party eight years after her unsuccessful White House run. Hillary Clinton was greeted by wild and sustained applause that lasted for more than two minutes as she addressed the convention on Monday.

And Bill Clinton's record has received new scrutiny from fellow Democrats in recent years. The 1994 crime bill he signed that imposed tougher criminal sentences and provided incentives for states to build more prisons has been criticized as a blunt instrument of mass incarceration that ruined the lives of thousands of people who could have been redeemed with less harsh punishment. Biden faced questions over his support of the legislation during the Democratic primaries four years ago.

Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and former Clinton adviser, said the former president remains an asset for the party.

“I think he's very much an elder statesman and he's a beloved figure, with a particular credibility on the economy,” Begala said. “If I were a campaign manager, I'd send him anywhere.”

That may make his speech useful in connecting Harris with moderate voters who don't want to vote for Trump but may be receptive to his claim that she's too liberal.

“I think the ‘secretary of explaining’ things still has work to do,” said Russell Riley, co-chair of the presidential oral history program at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “If you give him some time, he can explain damn near anything and can make sometimes unappealing choices seem to be not just logical but inescapable.”

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Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report.